Vaio FZ Owners Official Owners Thread

My laptop cannot boot as of this morning... the power button stays on (and turns off if i press for like 10 sec) but other than that nothing is working, nor the hard drive, nor the cpu cooler nor the screen. Anyone has any similar experience?

 

I have a FZ21E, with the Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 (2.00Ghz) CPU.

I was considering upgrading the CPU to something like the Intel Core 2 Duo T9400ES 2.53GHz, but that runs on the 1066mhz bus compared the the current CPU running on a 800mhz bus.. so i'm guessing this wouldn't work?

If that's the case, am I limited to a max of 2.2 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7500) which is found in my model's big brothers, the FZ21S/Z?

EDIT:
I've just found " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...22Merom-2M.22_.28standard-voltage.2C_65_nm.29 " which seems to imply I could go up to a Core 2 Duo T7800 2.6.. seeing as it's the same FSB, and more inportantly, the same socket type (Socket P FCBGA6). Is this correct?

 

Anyone has any links for the FZ service manual?

 

HI,

I Own A Sony Vaio FZ-440E with Nvidia 8400M GT GPU .
Since yesterday , i've been expiriencing Distorted video and scrambled screed and windows reported that Nvidia 8400m GT has stopped working .
I Think that finally my GPU has failed , and I've read the announcement according to which sony is providing free of charge replacement for the affected machines .
Fortunately , my vaio is in the list of applicable models .

But there are some problems :

1. I'm currently outside USA ( In India ) and I purchased it from the US .
2. I do not have any proof of purchase , since my brother purchased it for me .

So i went to a local service center in India and they told that they can't do anything without proof of purchase .
They gave me an option of paying 25000 Rs. for replacing the entire motherboard

So , the replacement that Sony provides in the US , do they demand to see the proof of purchase ?

Please Help me stating any possible solution for my scenario ....

Reply

 

Please do not cross post the same question in multiple threads. Pick one only.
I suspect you will need to ship the machine back to your brother and have him initiate the service request from the states.

Gary

 

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the reply ...
yea i can ship my machine back to the States but the problem is my brother also doesn't hold the proof of purchase .
So does Sony require the proof of purchase for servicing ?
And if Yes, is there a provision of a duplicate issue of invoice from Sony on the basis of serial number ?

Also wanted to know , what this problem basically is .
Is it the whole motherboard or just the GPU failing ?
i.e can i custom order an Nvidia 8400M GT GPU and get it replaced by a technician myself ?

Reply

 

You will have to ask Sony the first two questions. I have no idea.

It is just the GPU that is failing, but it is soldered to the motherboard so unless your local tech has the sort of facility that can handle that type of work (unlikely) the only choice is a motherboard replacement.

Gary

 

Okay ....

So after the replacement of MOBO by Sony , the problem is highly unlikely to recur right ?

 

Hi guys,
i have a Vaio FZ11Z and i want replace Matshida BD-Rec with a 2nd drive caddy for SSD.
Is it possible?
Some of you did it?

 

Sony Laptop VGN-FZ283BN, burned out Mother Board, (Nvidia 8400), any one besides me ? I've seen repair costs of $500-600, the question is, will it happen again ? I'ed like to read other's experience's, about after repair...Arr This is 05/13/11 And I'm to late to get in on the "Class-action lawsuit", cut-off is 03/14/2011.

 

If you have a failed Nvidia GPU, Sony will replace your motherboard/ GPU for free (3 year extended warranty). See the sticky at the top of the Sony forum.

 

hi all,
posting after long time,
my fz 140 is doing very weird grunting noise on dvd drive everytime i switch laptop on.
it makes this noise for a minute or so.
dvd drives works randomly.

what is solution you feel.
i think motor starts and hit somewhere and that keeps making noise.
i was wondering whether to take out dvd drive and put caddy to increase storage further,
i already have 500 gb hitachi 7200 prm drive .
what you suggest.

 

Not sure if you can put in a drive caddy. I haven't seen one for our FZ models. Not to say it does not exist, just saying I don't know if it does.

Gary

 

Hi, I have just got FZ-11S and it has T7100 1,8GHz Santa rosa.
It has GM965 chip.
I would like to upgrade to more powerful T series (T8xxx and T9xxx).
I would like to know if someone have tried to upgrade to T8300 2,4GHz or T9300 2,5GHz?
They are all the same FSB 800 and sockets 478. But I'm not sure if they are really compatible because S-series is Santa Rosa 60nm and T9x series is Penyin 45nm.
Could someone helps me it will really apriciated.

Taka

 

How much ram have you got and do you have a dedicated graphics card? (the later doesn't have much to do with it).

Because I am wondering how much value for money you are going to get out of a CPU upgrade.

 

i also researched on this line but gains are very minimal with processor upgrade if you compare efforts of opening laptop and all.

 

hi gary,

i found this link on ebay

SATA Hard Drive Caddy Adapter 4 Sony VAIO VGN-FZ140E/B - eBay (item 400217283381 end time Jun-18-11 07:02:09 PDT)

only one doubt is whether its is pata or sata interface as device manager reads it as sata but on opening the drive it seems to be pata.

http://cid-e672e94eef25bbe0.photos.live.com/self.aspx/public photos/untitled.png

what you say?
it sure seems to be pata.

regards,
Pratik

 

its pata part.

 

From the looks of the ad and your results, I think it is pretty clear the adapter converts the SATA drive to PATA (IDE). Which makes sense since the original DVD drives were IDE.

Gary

 

you are absolutely right.
the drive height is 12.7mm and we require internal sata to external pata enclosure and only last hitch is what size of drive will be supported.
what will be bios limitation for same?
i hope their is no restriction on it.

 

Does anyone here has experience replacing the inverter with part number 1-445-192-11? My inverter failed a few months ago, bought a replacement online (don't think it's original as it looks slightly different) and replaced it myself. The lcd would stay on for about half a second every time I turn on the laptop or do a "extend desktop to this monitor", and then it will go dark again. Any idea?

Thank.

 

hi all,
Hi Gary,
I manged to replace my dvd drive on vaio fz to SATA caddy and its running smoothly ,I did not encounter any driver issue.
It got detected automatically and its set in udma 2 and supported is udma 5 and I put 9.5mm standard HDD which came with laptop originally(toshiba 200 gb 4200 rpm,first 200 gb disk in market).
Its giving average transfer speed of around 25-28 MBps under windows 7 file copy.
Its 12.3 mm sized and pata interface and accepts sata Hdd and fits snuggly.
after exams,i will play with it.as of now just put it together and thought i will update you all about this mod.

 

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=e672...94EEF25BBE0&id=E672E94EEF25BBE0!986&sc=photos

HD tune read benchmark

 

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=E672...94EEF25BBE0&id=E672E94EEF25BBE0!987&sc=photos

hd tune smart data,it does not show any relocated sectors or anything but its showing ultra dma crc error .
any thing to worry about?

 

Hello good Doctor! Nice to see you are still playing with our shared favorite toy. ...big ol' grin...

I would be concerned about that warning. I have no idea what it means or how to approach it, but the fact that HD Tune gnerated a warning would be enough for me to investigate further. Keep us posted of your progress.

Gary

 

Thanks Gary,
I Agree with you.

we shall continue tinkering as long as possible.

I am using that as super extra drive.it has got some very trivial files which are backed up
So as long as it works,It works.so not bothered with it.will replace the HDD inside it after exams.

it accepts 12.7 mm sized as well,as far as I know 1TB is what is available in that size.
which one you suggest?
I am currently running hitachi 500 gb as boot drive storage drive.
you think we can play with ssd?

 

Dr. Pratik, I have ZERO experience with SSD. I was counting on you telling ME which one worked out! ...big ol' grin...

Gary

 

No worries,
in august,I will get an ssd for this vaio.
Lets see how good it gets while it lasts.
I am facing one issue of lcd backlight flickering and its webcam and mic is non functional since beginning.
I guess its time to visit sony service center.
mind you this laptop lasted me for 4 yrs.
so that speaks for quality of vaio.
been through quite a lot rough rides with laptop in bag.

its aging is showing in battery and this back light flickering.
I am thinking that its the cable which goes through hinge,that is damaged.
because it works at particular angle absolutely fine.

battery does not last beyond 15 min.
CPU also showing its age.after getting used to quadcore,it feels slow when i come to use this vaio.

HDD-- i checked with crystal disk info 4.0.2 .It shows absolutely perfect health for both disks.no ultra cmc errors or anything.whom do we believe?
Hd tune or crystal disk info.

how is your laptop running?

 

I refuse to answer because I am certain that the moment I do something will go awry. Does that answer your question? ...big ol' grin...

Gary

 

10 chars....

 

Hi Gary,
How you doing?
I am almost decided on samsung 470 series 64 gb ssd .
my second hdd caddy will hold my storage drive and primary sata will have ssd.
what you say?

 

Sounds like a good plan. Please let us know how it works out for you.

Gary

 

Hi guys, I had a problem with my motherboard. Basically it has died. So y says it will check because the cause seems to be hardware issue. Sincerely I did not even told them about their faulty hardware as many of you were writing. Since I currently live in Mexico I assumed they will be no warranty, much incompetence by many companis based in this country. Now, my fz has almost 4 years it is a fz 250fe (Latin American denomination), t7250 and a 8400m gt. I was wondering I they tell me that I have to pay could I tell them to get me a more powerful motherboard? I mean, maybe the motherboard the most powerful fz model has?, or the motherboard is tha base plate without the processor and gpu. I guss motherboard comes with the gpu but not CPU. Thanks in adva ce mates.

 

Hi there again.

Well, Sony has repaired my FZ free of charge after i bought it 3 years ago. Nice i must say.
Now i have a couple questions.
FIRST: I want to activate the ALPS service so y can use the vertical and horizontal utility of the touch pad, i do not know how to do it.
SECOND: I noticed that a network adapter is showing an error status (6t04), How, or better said, is it possible to correct the fault?
Thanks mates.

 

1. You need to install the Alps touchpad driver for scrolling. Get it from Sony support or from the guide linked in my Sig.

2. You can try uninstalling the adapter from device manager (check delete driver software) and restart. The error might be a hardware failure too.

 

Thanks a lot Coolguy. It worked.

 

I'm planning to buy a replacement 4800 mah Battery for my FZ440E from eBay .

Will it work on Windows 7 and Windows 8 .?? ( Especially 32 bit .)

Some seller mention that it wont work on win 7 , while some write that it wony work on any x64 ..

Why is that .??

Reply.....

 

I did install Samsung 470 ssd and after clean install,it's running good. It's stuck in ide mode as Sony has locked bios.
Performance wise its damn nice. Previously with Hitachi 7200 rpm drive, it used to. Take at least two min. For usable system.
Now it does same job in half a min or so.

I did not get time to benchmark system.

My loading times for firebox are awesome. Previously I would click firefox and it would take some time to get useful.
I. Understand firefox is getting bloated with each new version. But ssd changed that part as well.
It starts in snap.

Overall happy with ssd. But I feel laptop is showing its age.

 

The seller might be asking you to. Tinker in some bios setting to make battery compatible with laptop.
That app for tinkering may be not compatible with os.
Buy from trusted seller who has hundred plus feedback.

 

Not surprised that SONY locked the BIOS setting. The VT bit is locked in the BIOS as well, making it tough to do Virtual Machines. But a BIOS fix exists for that! There is a thread here devoted to it. No idea if there is a patch for the IDE mode or not.

While it is getting a bit old, to be honest it still fills the bill for me rather nicely.

Gary

 

I could not find any way around for ide to sata option.
I hate Sony for absolutely no updates for this vaio. Feels like orphan laptop for Sony.
I agree that it does its job pretty well.
Screen is still superb.
It puts other newer laptop screen to shame.
It's brightness and colors are still keeping well.
Let's see when we finally retire this.

 

Hi, I would like to share with you a strange behavior that appears every time I clean my vaio FZ21S inside. It's a notebook that has never had problems with faulty VGA or any other things. A couple years ago I did an upgrade to 4 gb RAM. I use to clean dust from heatsinks and fan every six months, replacing thermal paste on cpu and vga to overcome overheating problems that are the hallmark of this fine product. Whenever I end this job, the notebook seems to start, but without loading first boot screen and leaving only a black screen. The CD seems to work (it tries to detect the presence of a disc inside), hard drive LED turns on for a couple of seconds and then turns off. The PC remains stucked in this condition.
Here there is the strange phenomenon that I wanted to describe.

To have FZ21s working, I have to remove the 4 gb of ram and replace them with the original two 1 gb sticks provided.

At this point vaio boots normally, I just turn it off again and replace the old ram with the two newer gb corsair sticks.

Is anyone able to give me an explanation about it?
At the moment I am in this state, but I've lend a friend my RAM and I have to wait until he brings me back them to make my FZ21S work.(Here in Italy it's snowing a lot and I'm stuck at home, at the time).
It 'possible that unplugging the RTC (CMOS) battery could be of any help?
I've seen that it's a common solution in case of heavy hardware changes.


Sorry for my english and thanks in advance for your help

 

+1 from me...very interested to see some input about this post as I've been facing similar problems lately. I have 2x2gb sticks installed and find that randomly, the laptop shuts down in the middle of working. On turning it back on, I get a blank screen, no HDD activity...nothing! I have to remove one of the RAM modules for it to boot up again. Ran memtest on both chips together as well as individually, after several hours on each there were no errors...so I have no idea what's happening either?!

P.s. Your english is great if you ask me, powhatan!

 

The Motion Eye camera on my daughter's FZ140E has always been flaky. The symptoms have always pointed towards hardware (being sensitive to touch, e.g.), but I wasn't able to investigate until it came into my possession recently.

It turned out to be a manufacturing defect: the cable running from the motherboard is too short. You can't fasten the camera to the lid without pulling the cable out of its connector ever so slightly. The symptom is that, when the camera is connected to the cable securely, the mounting holes in the camera are off-center from those in the lid.

The fix is to remove the top two screws of the display bezel (behind the rubber buttons) and gingerly unfasten the top of the bezel. Unscrew the camera and push it securely onto its connector. Replace the camera, but don't screw it to the lid. Replace the bezel.

The camera aperture will now be slightly off-center in the bezel window, but it doesn't affect the image. I haven't had a problem since.

 

Thanks!
Bad news about my FZ21s,anyway.
After many attempts, it couldn't boot yet.
I called Sony, they told me that they would fix my mobo out of warranty (but with a special discount of 50%, only 300 euros ).
The problem is that I opened my vaio several times to replace thermal paste and I think the service center could see that, making me totally out of
extended warranty on nvidia.
I will try to get out of it by sending it to third party lab, who will perform a reballing of VGA (or rather, the replacement of the chip NVIDIA).
It will costs only 120 euros to me.
Before shipping FZ21S for reballing I bought on ebay another vaio, a N38m (120 euros)
Since it would take too long to reinstall all programs, I decided to replace the hard disk of N38m with the one form Fz21s and after a couple of reboots, it works! Win 7's magic!

The interesting thing is that I had put 2 sticks of RAM (2x2gb) form FZ21s on N38M, which has accepted the upgrade without problems.
Then, when I've unscrewed the N38M to change hd (yes, you have to disassemble it completely), on the reboot, BLANK SCREEN.

Great, I told myself, I f****d also my secondary laptop.

I tried to put back on the N38M its original sticks of ram and then... IT WORKED.

Therefore, it seems that after a chassis disassembly, VAIO pc's (N&FZ series) need original sticks of ram.
I thought it was a case or a specific feature of my FZ21s, but this happens with an another kind of Vaio, at least.

Consider this, before selling your old original RAM sticks after an upgrade.

Cheers.

 

i have this great laptop in perfect condition and i m wondering where i can find a similar monitor to a newer laptop.
I once compared my friends macbook pro 15 2009 model monitor whith vaio FZ ,
and FZ has better colors thats impressing!
Ok i need to find if this laptop works with SSD sata 3 new hard disks .
Does anybody make it happen?

 

thats exactly what i m looking for..any ideas?
If i buy SSD SATA 3 would i see any differences from my 500GB 7200rpm WD?

 

Hey, I did buy a replacement battery not from ebay but from a Chinese website. The battery is compatible with Windows 7, the problem is that first you need to install a new bios firmware and that program is not compatible with x64 or windows 7 I don't remember which. Anyway, It's a little pain in the a$$, but you can go to vista 32, install the firmware and then go back to 7 and everything will work like a charm. To make this easier just create an image of your win7 drive. I hope that helps it is worth it. i am quite happy with it.

 

New guy here.Bought used FZ 145E and want know if its posslble to put video card w/hdmi. There is a hdmi knockout on the side and some newer FZs have the nvidia 8400 w/hdmi.Can it be done?

 

You can't change the GPU in the FZ.